Maria Cornejo has a reputation—well-earned—for simple, geometric cuts, and the elegant, sculptural forms they produce on the body. More and more, though, it’s her fabrics that are the marvel. This season, as with most, she developed the majority of her materials in-house. Though the bulk of them are richly woven jacquards with not just eye-catching patterns but also textural surface interest, they are, by and large, remarkably light. That’s fitting; though it’s called Pre-Fall, this collection is arriving in stores now, on the cusp of summer.
North Africa was the jumping-off point for the textiles and the silhouettes, though that wasn’t immediately obvious in the results. Cornejo has a deep repertoire of go-to shapes; despite the far-flung inspiration, the pieces retained the casual urban sensibility—polished without being dressy—that her followers know and appreciate. This holds true for items like the green and black “army fatigues” (basically a sweatsuit in silk) and the orange tank dress made from sustainable viscose jersey, as well as for ostensibly fancier items like a caftan and an evening coat in earthy woven jacquards. Cornejo is having a big Spring season, thanks in part to innovative denim pieces, like a wrap jacket and cropped “fin” pants. The chambray and Tuareg mud-cloth jacquards she’s done for Pre-Fall will keep that hot streak going.
